I get what you are saying, and believe me, I too have compassion for Sotskova and it breaks my heart to see her skating like this. She got her GP spot because of the world standings and that ranking is designed to keep "older" skaters in the mix so they don't quit if they have a couple of bad competitions. That's good. And it works if you are skating for any other federation, but Russia has too many talented skaters waiting in the wings so unfortunately this system does not work in their favour. These other skaters don't even get 'B' events so they don't even have a chance to make the Seasons Best List or the World Standings. There is perhaps at least 10-15 Russian girls that would have loved to go to Nepela Trophy and most of them would probably have ended up on the podium, but they didn't even get the chance.
I have loved seeing Leonova all these years, she has been a part of the GP circus for 11 years! There has always been a place for her, but the last couple of seasons the competition in Ladies in Russia are steeper than ever so this year Leonova is out. It's sad, yes, and I will miss Leonova, but me getting sentimental about it doesn't help the sport.
I see no reason for her not to skate there. The competition is rather weak, she had a great experience last year and a challenger in the early season is never a bad idea. She doesn't have to do one, of course, she will be fine without it. But still... it was great there for her last year, why wouldn't she go again? But then again, there weren't any Russian ladies assigned for Nebelhorn last year already, were they? Alina was only included because of her passport problems that prevented her from competing at Nepela... definitely weird. It's not like Nebelhorn is that far from Russia either like ACI or US Classics for example, so travel costs shouldn't be an issue.
